~ My love of gardening, making home comfortable and entertaining friends and family.

Autumn Entertaining

I enjoy this season [possibly] more than the others, although spring does play a close second. By July September, I start looking forward to cooking more. Or, I should say cooking more comfort foods. I realize that is often code for calorie-laden, but my take on it is, all things in moderation, right? So with a menu in mind, I started planning a party.

{Big Bear, California ~ 2012}

The “birthday group” Mr. B and I have celebrated with for umpteen years now, consists of 5 couples and each couple hosts a dinner once a year in celebration of two birthday honorees. If you’re interested, I have shared previous celebrations HERE, HERE and HERE.

{Side note: I recently replaced these homely shades with a pair that are better scaled to the barley twist lamps—pictures to come later}

This year I had the good fortune of hosting the birthday party for the two friends I’ve known the longest (we’re talking pre-children friends, Carla & Wendy). Since it was mid-September I took the opportunity to make the table setting and menu a reflection of the greatest season’s arrival—in just 1 short week from the date of the event, but who’s counting? Was it cool and crisp outside? NO. But with the aid of the air conditioner we managed to pretend.

I’m not usually much of a DIYer, but I did manage to make these invitations and envelopes — I used Paper Source pre-cut cards, a sunflower stamp and their envelop-making kit with paper from Michael’s. That’s it, easy.

I used white chargers and a vintage set of Villeroy & Boch, ‘la chasse’ dinner plates in black and white. They go with the newer pattern by VB called Audun, but they feature vintage pictures with hunters and their dogs. There are 6 different images.

I confess, sunflowers inspired this table setting. They always seem the ideal flower for fall. I added some yellow alstromeria and a few guinea fowl feathers.

Note: I had to have a saucer under the planter because it seeped water (somehow) through the bottom. There weren’t any cracks but the very bottom stayed wet. Fortunately I discovered it before placing it on my table, phew.

If you look at the left corner of the image (above) you’ll notice some candy. One of my favorite traditions with the “Birthday Group” is we hand select each person’s favorite *See’s candies and have them on the table. We all know which candy we consider our favorite and there are a couple of us that can identify each piece that See’s makes by shape and design, in case someone (the men) forget which is the Marzipan (Thomas) or white centered Butter Cream (Tom). 🙂

Even though it was only mid-September, I decided to put a few of the fall decorations out. I’ve really scaled back to mostly pumpkins, wheat stalks, feathers and berries.

My menu was a repeat of one I had done a couple of years ago…fortunately, everyone loves this dish and it is what the birthday girls requested.

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36 thoughts on “Autumn Entertaining”

Karen, what a lovely dinner party! Just thinking about your ‘birthday group’ tradition makes me smile! Your Autumn decorations are just perfect. I love your black and white table setting, accented with sunflowers for a pop of color! What a wonderful post ~ celebrating the season and dear friendships! ♡

how fun to have such a group in your lives. beautiful dinner party karen with your home looking so warm and cozy. cannot believe those invites could be so easy but you have inspired me
at home i have an age stove which gets shut down in summer (perfect!) and fires up in autumn…..unfortunately those favorites are calorie laden!!
xo
debra

Debra, I know what you’re saying…pistachio crusted chicken with a dijon cream sauce can be deadly. I made the ladies portions very small, honest. 😉 Your AGA stove is a dream of mine and I was very happy to read all about how it works. I had no idea it was basically on all the time unless you shut it down for the warmer months. I still think I’d love to own one someday. xo, Karen

You know me well…plaid is, after all, my favorite color! Ha. Yes, those white pumpkins are faux. They are pretty real looking but allow me to stick in spots where I wouldn’t normally check to see if they were rotting. Did I ever tell you about the beautiful gray pumpkin that was on my dining room table and rotted from underneath and oozed juice that took the finish off of my table? Yes, it happened and now I’ve overly careful about these beauties. Karen

Dear Karen,
Your Autumn dinner party looked so lovely. I LOVE those dishes! They’re so pretty paired with the black and white. I noticed that you put a few feathers in the sunflower arrangement . . . love that, too.
Yes, I do cook differently in the Fall and Winter months. I’m a big fan of cooking (and baking) with seasonal ingredients . . . so I roast lots vegetables like butternut squash, brussel sprouts, etc. And I make LOTS of stews and soups with home-made bread October through February. Nothing hits the spot like these kinds of foods when the weather is cooler.
So happy you shared photos of you party with us.
Have a wonderful week,
Suzanne

I knew once I visited your site we shared a lot in common. 🙂 I don’t actually bake my own bread anymore but we love to buy really good, crusty loaves to accompany some of our hearty soups. I love roasted vegetables and find they all taste better roasted, don’t you agree. I’m so happy you stopped by, thank you, Suzanne. xo Karen

Kristy, I may have to print and frame this comment…I am really not a very accomplished DIYer. But thank you for saying that. 🙂 It is one of life’s pleasures for me (and Mr. B) to have people over for dinner and enjoy good food, good wine and fun conversations. xo, Karen

This looked like a wonderful dinner party! From your creatively cute invitations to the flowers to the dishes (that are gorgeous!) to the delicious sounding food and then the friendship your group must enjoy – all perfect! And I also love all your fall decorating. 🙂

Karen, your friends are very fortunate to have you as their thoughtful hostess. This looks to have been a lovely dinner party and you’ve planned everything in advance (even the chocolates!).

I am always conflicted as to which season is my favorite. Is it autumn or spring? I’ve decided i adore both as they always energize me equally and I enjoy the different entertaining possibilities both seasons bring.

As you could tell from reading my current blog post on baking apple pies, I most certainly am inspired to cook differently with the succession of the seasons.

CD, I’m with you on the spring / fall seasons. They seem to offer a welcome change in the weather, even in mild California. Your apple pie looked delicious. I will have to think about preparing one in the next few weeks. Thank you for your kind compliments. xo, Karen

Karen,
What a fantastic table setting and the invitations just blew me away! I’ll have to try something like that myself for an upcoming party. I love the idea of your birthday group and hosting five couples only once a year is certainly doable. Great job!

Thanks, Linda. The invitations were so easy. I had purchased the envelop making templates some time ago and decided it was time to use them. It’s kind of fun because you can use any paper to make the envelop and any complimentary paper for the lining. You can use maps or old music or anything. Then you just have to make a label for the address. xo, Karen

I’m still trying to get over the fact that you made those invitations – they looked absolutely professional and highly custom! I also was impressed with the name tags tucked into the napkins. You are the queen of details!!!

Every year I can hardly wait until I can bake my first pumpkin bread. It makes the whole house smell like Fall. I think it’s almost cool (cold is still too much to hope for) enough to start making soup again. We’re getting really tired of summer salads!

Thanks Gretchen, if you saw how easy it was to make the invitations you’d laugh. I started making a few soups, they are so much fun to make and always taste good once the evenings cool. I’m with you, “cold” is still a ways off but I know I’ll be ready. xo, Karen

Karen I love those black and white dishes (I can’t believe I don’t have any)and paired with the sunflowers it all looks so pretty! How nice to have such old, dear friends, you must have some incredible memories…and celebrating birthdays together is such a wonderful tradition. BTW–that chicken recipe looks so good, I might have to try it.

Leslie, I can’t believe you don’t have black and white dishes either, with the amazing Halloween tables you set. 🙂 But they don’t really seem necessary with such great pumpkins in shades of gray and white and the inexpensive chargers you can find in the stores. The chicken recipe is super delicious and nice for entertaining since you can brown the chicken an hour or two before you bake it…makes the final steps easy. Have a wonderful weekend. Karen

Finally back to my computer, and yay, there’s a new post from you! Your table and invitations are beautiful– love the idea of being inspired by sunflowers. The chicken sounds so yummy, too. That is cute about the See’s candy. Are you one of the chief candy identifiers? 🙂

Hi Vicki, Yep, See’s candy and I go way back. It’s a joke because one of my other friends in the group and I used to write advertorial for an Orange County newspaper and we’d often do our writing appointments together—more fun! We always stopped by Sees and between buying a piece of our favorite chocolate and the samples the store gives, we learned nearly all of the chocolates by shape and detailing. We’re lucky we didn’t develop a weight problem that summer! I’m happy your back to the computer. 🙂 Karen

GOOD MORNING KAREN! How lovely is your post here, and it reminds me so much of our evening last night….my husband and I were invited to a lovely dinner at the home of one of his colleagues, and we sat down to a very large table beautifully decorated like yours…almost exactly.

The home was full of antiques (family heirlooms) and I was transported back to my childhood dreams of always wanting to have a sit-down dinner in a home that was made from midwestern style, or eastern style….and these comfort foods were all set out on the table.

Your selection of décor is rich with love and beauty, enough to make your guests remember the meal, the company for a long time.

Thank you so much for coming to visit! The photos of my home are the two last ones, with the marble fireplace. Yes, COMING HOME is the best part of the day.

Anita, How fun for you and your husband to enjoy an autumn meal with friends/associates. I do love antiques and they probably enhanced the lovely atmosphere. Thank you so much for your always kind compliments. I love your home. Your photographs looked magazine worthy. You are so talented. I am so happy to have met you and your incredible site. xo, Karen